Aintree winner Laafi disqualified for breach of whip rules

Grand National Festival winner Laafi has been disqualified after jockey Patrick O’Brien was found to have breached whip regulations.

The six-year-old, trained in Ireland by William Durkan, was a 20-1 winner of the Debenhams Handicap Hurdle at Aintree on Friday, a race restricted to conditional jockeys and amateur riders.

The British Horseracing Authority’s whip review committee found that O’Brien had used his whip four times above the permitted level of seven from jumping the second-last hurdle and taking into account none of the uses were for safety purposes, Laafi was disqualified and his rider was given a 28-day suspension.

Laafi is the fifth winning horse to have been disqualified since the new rules were introduced in 2023 because of whip-related breaches from a total of well over 30,000 winning rides.

In the same race Toby McCain-Mitchell, the rider of the initial second and now placed first horse, Melon, was found to have used his whip twice above the permitted level and as this was his fourth suspension within six months for the same offence, he has been referred to the judicial panel.

O’Brien and McCain-Mitchell were two of several riders to fall foul of the whip rules at Aintree, with Darragh O’Keeffe and Jonjo O’Neill Jr both found guilty of multiple breaches and Harry Skelton also picking up a ban.

O’Keeffe was given a three-day suspension (May 2-5) for using his whip in the incorrect place aboard Manifesto Novices’ Chase winner Koktail Divin, and another four days (May 6-9) for the same offence on Hiddenvalley Lake, who was fifth in the Liverpool Hurdle.

O’Neill was found to have used his whip once above the permitted level of second from the second-last hurdle on Wellington Arch, winner of William Hill Handicap Hurdle – and while mitigation on penalty was applied as the jockey had had more than 75 rides in Britain since his previous breach, the penalty was doubled due to the race being a class one event and he will be suspended for six days (May 2 and May 4-8).

O’Neill’s second offence of the week came in the Randox Grand National itself on board the runner-up Iroko, where he again used his whip once above the permitted level from turning into the straight, earning him a further suspension of eight days (May 9-16).

Skelton’s transgression came in the William Hill Handicap Chase on Grand National day, with the rider found to have used his whip down the shoulder in the forehand position with his hand off the reins on the winner Mr Hope Street. He will serve a three-day suspension (May 2, 4-5).